Your Top 10 Favorite INSIDE BlackBerry Blogs of 2014

As we wind down 2014, it’s not an overstatement to say that it has been a remarkable year, full of change and increasing signs that our turnaround is gaining traction.

A glance at the top 10 most-read articles from INSIDE BlackBerry gives a great cross-section of some of the most important events of the year. Readers showed their keenest interest in BBM’s ongoing evolution as a multi-platform, enterprise and commerce-enabled messaging system, as well as our new device releases, including the affordable BlackBerry Z3, the powerful and innovative BlackBerry Passport, the luxurious Porsche Design P‘9983, and the upgraded BlackBerry Classic, and not to mention the feature-packed updates to BB OS 10.

Without further ado, here are the ten most-read articles of 2014 on INSIDE BlackBerry, with no. 1 being the most popular of the year.

Savvy customers in emerging markets jumped all over the Z3, which debuted in Indonesia and spread outward from there, subsequently hitting India, South Africa and numerous other countries in Asia and the Middle East.

“BlackBerry is beloved in Indonesia and its loyal fans have made it a popular smartphone brand. This is why we are so proud to be able to help bring BlackBerry even closer to Indonesia with a fantastic product that will be accessible to even more Indonesians. This is only the beginning of what we know will be a long and fruitful partnership between Foxconn and BlackBerry.”

Readers were closely following any and all developments related to the square-screened powerhouse, and checked in to catch the word-of-mouth from those using the device, who rated it an extremely high 4.8 out of 5 stars.

BlackBerry OS 10.2.1 was a real milestone in the OS’s history; rich in features and as the article said in the title, enabling users to do more and to do it easier than ever, as this #5 post detailed.

With the recent update to 10.3 and beyond, the platform just keeps evolving, adding and refining rich features that users love to talk about, to the tune of over 200 comments for this piece alone.

Some of the highlights included a simplified phone experience with a new incoming call screen that lets you swipe to the left to answer or swipe right to ignore a call, SMS and email groups, actionable lock screen notifications, picture passwords and a ton of other features.

What a head-turner the BlackBerry Passport has been. This first piece on the much-rumored smartphone blew up the internet, garnering front-page coverage on venerable tech new aggregator TechMeme and reporting from major tech news outlets, ranging from Engadget to PC Magazine, Ars Technica, Ubergizmo and TechCrunch.

While initial speculation was divided between cautious optimism and heavy-handed skepticism, the tone changed as more information was released, and overall has seen a sea-change since the device’s release to strong reviews. It also helps that customers really like the black, white and red versions (which are all on sale through December 30th).

The fourth BBM-related piece on this list and #2 overall detailed BBM emoticons.

Yes, those smiley faces, monkey heads, basketballs and birthday cakes captivated the messaging public. BBM has made great progress over the past year, partially due to the great migration away from conventional texting toward rich messaging platforms, and they just don’t get better than BBM, with stickers, voice, video, attachments, commerce (in certain markets) and more.

It’s fitting that the top story corresponds to BlackBerry’s year-end gift to productivity fans around the world: the BlackBerry Classic.

Thanks for all the support this year, and we all look forward to getting things done with you in 2015!

What was the top BlackBerry news for you in 2014? Share those with us in the comments below.

About Matt Young

Matt Young is a writer and editor with experience in tech, music, news and entertainment. A current Performance Evangelist for Radware, Matt has previous experience with BlackBerry, and Avaya. He has a degree in Journalism from San Jose State University. Follow Matt on Twitter @techunraveler.

The views expressed on any corporate or individual's personal website or any Twitter account are not necessarily those of BlackBerry. The user's Twitter account and/or personal website, any corporate website, or any comments contained on any of the foregoing have not been reviewed by BlackBerry and do not constitute an endorsement by BlackBerry.